Train collides with pickup truck near Falmouth Road

FALMOUTH — A train collided with a pickup truck near the Falmouth Road railroad crossing early Monday morning.

Police said Raymond Freeman, 42, of Biddeford, apparently drove the truck down the rail line and parked on the tracks around midnight on Sunday.

Around 12:30 a.m. Monday a Gilford Transportation train traveling north struck the pickup and tore off its passenger side.

Neither Freeman nor a passenger, Michele Sanborn, 34, of Biddeford, were injured in the accident.

“(Freeman) said he went down there to have a discussion with his girlfriend,” police Lt. John Kilbride said. “The train came, and he pulled off to the side, but didn’t pull over far enough. It took off the passenger side of car.”

Kilbride said the train conductor did not realize the truck had been hit and continued down the tracks.

“(Freeman) was very lucky he didn’t kill himself and his girlfriend, or derail the train,” Kilbride said.

Police have still not determined if there was damage to the train.

Falmouth police have recently caught several people stealing railroad scrap metal from areas along the tracks, and Kilbride said the bed of Freeman’s pickup truck was full of scrap metal.

“We’ve had a series of thefts of scrap metal down there. He denied he was stealing scrap metal,” Kilbride said.

No charges were filed Monday. Kilbride said the incident is under investigation by railroad police.